French wine makers have destroyed crate-loads of Spanish sparkling wine in protest over cheap imports of booze from the neighbouring country.

Protesters stopped several trucks importing wines from Spain at the Le Bolou tollbooth just 10 miles from the southern border between France and Spain this morning. 

They destroyed several wine shipments by smashing the bottles and pouring the wine onto the road. Some even flicked open the tap on a Spanish lorry, which caused red wine to gush onto the motorway.

The furious winemakers also piled up several crates of tomatoes and tyres to set them on fire.

The protest is part of the ‘economic war against economic criminals who abuse ruined winegrowers’, according to Frederic Rouanet, the president of a local syndicate of winemakers.

Protesters destroyed several wine shipments by smashing the bottles (pictured) and pouring the wine onto the road

The protest, which saw the street painted red due to the spilled wine (pictured above) is part of the ‘economic war against economic criminals who abuse ruined winegrowers’, according to Frederic Rouanet, the president of a local syndicate of winemakers

The furious winemakers also piled up several crates of tomatoes and tyres to set them on fire (pictured here)

‘We are going to take away the possibility of being able to import foreign wines,’ he added.

Winemakers from the local area were among the protesters, which were mostly left alone by police, according to French newspaper Vitisphere.

In videos posted on social media platform X, protesters can be seen tumbling over crates of Freixenet wine, who crash into puddles of white wine and foam as soon as they hit the road. 

They also piled up hundreds of cardboard crates carrying Spanish tomatoes and lit them on fire.

Some threw more and more boxes into the flames, which quickly developed into grey smoke rising several feet high. 

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Protesters also set a pile of tyres on fire, which billowed black smoke into the air and could be seen from several miles away.

A video from the scene shows flames eating through the rubber as two fire trucks attend and firefighters get ready to extinguish the blaze.

They also piled up hundreds of cardboard crates carrying Spanish tomatoes and lit them on fire

In videos posted on social media platform X, protesters (pictured) can be seen tumbling over crates of Freixenet wine, who crash into puddles of white wine and foam as soon as they hit the road 

Protesters stopped several trucks importing wines from Spain at the Bolou tollbooth near the southern border between France and Spain this morning

Some threw more and more boxes into the flames, which quickly developed into grey smoke rising several feet high

Protesters emptied out the truck and threw the boxes of tomatoes onto the road

Protesters also set a pile of tyres on fire, which billowed black smoke into the air (pictured) and could be seen from several miles away

Before the protest escalated, a delegation of winegrowers of different local syndicates and trade unions met to discuss the cheap Spanish imports that threaten to put French winemakers out of business.

This is not the first time French winegrowers made a statement against cheap imports by destroying wine. 

French producers have been furious that their traditional rivals in Spain – and also Italy – are exporting hundreds of millions of litres of cut-price wine that threaten their livelihoods for years.

Dozens took to the roads at Le Bolou in 2016, stopping Spanish tankers and then emptying their wine on to the roads.

Rouanet confirmed back then that  four tankers were emptied, with 70,000 litres of wine wasted. 

His fellow protesters scrawled graffiti on the side of the Spanish trucks, with slogans including ‘wine not compliant’ – they believe the Spanish wine is sub-standard and not produced in accordance with European regulations.